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⚡ Scalping
Not a recommendation. Educational explainer only. No win rates, no rankings, no signals to follow.
Plain explanation
Very short holds aiming at small price moves, with many trades. Commissions and slippage weigh heavily.
Often discussed with
ES, NQ and their micros during peak liquidity.
Prop rule interactions
- Tradeify funded 10-second rule: over 50% of trades and over 50% of profit must come from holds longer than 10 seconds to request a payout (evals exempt).
- Apex: no HFT or exploiting the sim; no automation; no small targets against disproportionately large stops (5-tick vs 150-tick example); every trade needs a stop; Professional Standards and Unsustainable Strategies clauses apply.
- Apex and TPT: no minimum hold time found on official pages. TPT bans bots and algos.
- Daily loss limit / drawdown: many small losses add up; Tradeify says not to use the daily loss limit as a stop.
- News: see trading around news. Overnight: not applicable; still flat by the close.
Common mistakes
- Leaving commissions out of the math.
- Overtrading after losses.
- Sizing up to "get it back."
Risk notes
Short holds aren't low risk. Joe: scalps leave little time to fiddle with stops, which makes it fast to see whether pre-set exits get followed.
Related explainers: Opening range breakout · Reversion trading (VWAP & ranges) · Trading around news: what each firm allows
How trailing drawdown moves
Take Profit Trader's own PRO example, in units of the drawdown: say your drawdown allowance is 3 units, so the floor starts 3 units below your starting balance. If open profit on a trade reaches 2 units, the floor rises by 2 units in real time. If you then close the trade at +1 unit, your balance is up 1, but the floor stays where it rose to, leaving 2 units of room instead of 3. The floor follows peak open profit and doesn't come back down when that profit is given back. It stops trailing once it reaches the starting balance. Source: TPT PRO Account Rules §5 (last checked October 16, 2026). On EOD types (Apex EOD PA, Tradeify, TPT Test), the floor updates from the closing balance but is still enforced intraday.
How Apex, TPT and Tradeify rules affect this
| Rule | Apex (new products) | Take Profit Trader | Tradeify |
|---|---|---|---|
| Minimum hold time Last checked October 16, 2026 | None found. | None found. | Funded: over 50% of trades AND over 50% of profit must come from trades held longer than 10 seconds, or you can't request a payout; evals exempt (Guidelines). |
| HFT / brackets / automation Last checked October 16, 2026 | No HFT or exploiting the sim; no non-directional bracket trading (orders left on both sides); no automation or algos (Prohibited Activities). | No bots or algos (UTP). | No HFT bots. Algorithmic trading allowed if you own the strategy exclusively, it isn't shared, it isn't HFT, and you can prove ownership (Essential Trading Rules Overview, checked Oct 16, 2026). |
| Risk-ratio / stop rules Last checked October 16, 2026 | Every trade needs a pending or mental stop. No small targets with disproportionately large risk (Apex's example: "a five-tick profit target with a 150-tick stop loss"). No using the trailing threshold as a stop loss (Prohibited Activities). | — | The daily loss limit is not a stop (above). |
| Daily loss limit Last checked October 16, 2026 | PA: tiered; hitting it pauses the session (EOD PA page). | None. | Select eval: none. Select Daily: yes. Select Flex: none. Growth / Lightning: tiered. "NEVER use the Daily Loss Limit as a stop loss" (News rule). |
| Conduct clauses Last checked October 16, 2026 | Unsustainable Strategies: trading that "fails to demonstrate consistent growth and sustainability is prohibited." Professional Standards: strategies and risk management "consistent with those [you] would use in a personally funded account at a registered broker" (Prohibited Activities). | Independent trading required; no counter positions (UTP). | Good-faith trading; no exploiting platform errors (overview). |
| Drawdown Last checked October 16, 2026 | EOD PA: "calculated once per day at market close and enforced intraday" (EOD PA page). Intraday PA also offered. | Test: EOD trailing. PRO: intraday trailing on peak balance, including unrealized gains; stops at starting balance (PRO Account Rules §5). | EOD trailing on evals and funded, enforced in real time on net liquidation value (Rules overview). |
| Consistency, by plan Last checked October 16, 2026 | 50% on PA payouts only; no evaluation consistency rule (Apex homepage). | Test: 50%. PRO: none. | Select eval 40%; Select funded none; Growth funded 35%; Lightning 20% / 25% / 30% for payouts 1 / 2 / 3+ (overview; Select payout policy). |
| News Last checked October 16, 2026 | Allowed "for your normal trading strategy"; no chasing; no orders on both sides "to gamble the outcome" (Prohibited Activities). | PRO: no open positions or orders from 1 minute before to 1 minute after FOMC statements (Wed 2:00 PM ET), NFP (Fri 8:30 AM ET) and CPI. Fed speakers and minutes allowed (PRO Account Rules §6). Other releases: check TPT's rules. | "Allowed with no restrictions," at your own risk (News rule). |
| Overnight holds Last checked October 16, 2026 | Prohibited: "Holding open trade positions through the market close" (Prohibited Activities). | Check TPT's rules. | Prohibited: close by 4:45 PM ET (12:59 PM ET on holiday early closes) (overview). |
| Price limits Last checked October 16, 2026 | — | PRO: exit before a limit up/down level is reached. "If a price limit is hit, and you have not exited your position, you will lose your PRO Account" (PRO Account Rules). | — |
| Hedging Last checked October 16, 2026 | Prohibited, including correlated instruments. | No counter positions (UTP #5). | Prohibited, including correlated products and positions across accounts. |
Overnight: Apex PA and Tradeify require being flat by the close, so only intraday versions apply. For TPT, check TPT's rules. All rules last checked October 16, 2026 on the official pages linked. Rules change often; confirm on the firm's current page. See also our firm comparison.
📝 Rule I set before the trade / Did I follow it?
Before your next trade, write one line: the rule you set. Afterward, answer yes or no, plus one line on why. That's the whole exercise. No P&L, no screenshots.
Joe shares his own answers each week in Joe's rule-break log in The Prop Desk Brief.
Get Joe's rule-break log in The Prop Desk Brief →Not financial advice. Futures trading carries substantial risk of loss. Most evaluations aren't passed.